Posted on Mar 29, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Thought I’d share the progress.
The acrylic frame was made from a single sheet of acrylic from the hardware store. A 20$ heat gun was used to make the plastic soft and bendable. Each bend took maybe 5min to complete. It was really not as hard as expected.
Another view
I jury-rigged the controller to the motors long enough to cut a front panel so I could mount the ports and switches. The design was made with Autocad and was translated into cnc code with Lazycam.
A little hot glue to hold it nothing too fancy. Still needs a little sanding/filing to smooth out the edges.
The buttons will eventually control things like Emergency stop and Feedrates, though they are not wired in yet. The back panel still needs to be cut, too.
Posted on Mar 17, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Here’s the jist.. My old connectors (4pin molex) were not treating me very well, pins kept coming loose. To resolve this, I decided to rewire the motors to RJ45 connectors/jacks.
Alas, I must have put the wires on improperly, as my board made a high frequency whine, and 5 seconds later, a puff of smoke came from the board. I pried off the heatsinks to find a dark burn on one axis of the drive. Bummer.
I won’t make that mistake again, that’s for sure. The xylotex website states 90$ for repair of the board, but I suppose an 8$ chip and some practice with SMD soldering wouldn’t hurt.
In the meantime, I ordered a replacement board, 4axis Xylotex. It’s a little bigger, so I have to build a new chassis, but it will give me the option for 4axis whenever I decide to upgrade. The 3axis can sit in a dark corner until I build a router table one of these days.
In the interim, it’s a good time to start forming a box and thoroughly clean the Taig. It’s been a season since I’ve fired it up, and it’s a good a time as any to turn my finely calibrated machine out of whack. I’ve been reading about resonance issues above 15ipm which may be solved by a damper (link here) which may also be looked at.